to adapt it to the present form of our language, and to make it an acceptable manual among those who are devoutly inclined. To derive from its use the advantages it is calculated to impart, the Christian must endeavor to use it in the same spirit with which it was originally composed. The office is divided into several distinct portions, which are recited at different hours of the day, to remind us of the obligation we are under, of consecrating all our time and our whole life to the service of God, by the practice of good works and the careful omission of whatever is offensive to his Divine Majesty. In the psalms and lessons is contained an exposition of the great objects of our faith, and of our duties as the followers of Christ, and if read with attention, and occasionally made the subject of serious consideration, they cannot fail to produce the most salutary impressions. The pious Christian would do well, therefore, to select daily from the morning office, some passage more particularly applicable to his spiritual wants, or one that has struck him with peculiar force, that it may serve as the nutriment of his mind and the rule of his actions during the day, placing before him, on every occasion, the virtue he should strive to practice, the evil habit or inclination he should endeavor to reform, or the means to be employed for the attainment of these important ends. Thus will he imitate the example of the royal prophet, who seven times in the day offered to the Lord a fervent tribute of praise and thanksgiving; thus, too, will he acquire that holy relish for the meditation of religious truth which will animate him to walk with alacrity in the path of the divine commandments. THE COMPILER. A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE OFFICE. THE office is composed of psalms, hymns, canticles, &c., for the sake of variety, in order to sustain the attention and nourish the spirit of devotion. Matins, signifies the morning office. It is called also nocturnal office, because in some parts of the Catholic world, the time of its recitation begins at midnight; according to those words of the prophet, at midnight I rose to confess to thee. The invitatory, at the commencement of matins, is an appeal to the piety of the Christian, to animate his fervor in offering to God the tribute of his praise. The doxology, or glory be to the Father, &c., is said at the beginning of every hour, and at the end of every psalm, to show that our object in saying the office should be to glorify the most blessed Trinity. Alleluia is a Hebrew expression, which signifies, praise ye the Lord, and is the language of the blessed in heaven. Apoc. 8, 6. It is used in the liturgy of the church during the greater part of the year, particularly from Easter to Pentecost, that being a time of peculiar joy in the church. But, from Septuagesima to Easter, a period more especially devoted to the exercise of penance, instead of alleluia, we say, praise be to thee, O Lord, king of eternal glory, because God is then to be praised more by a spirit of compunction, than by the hymn of exultation. Hymns are a poetical expression of the attributes of God, and of the homage which is due to him from his creatures. The use of them is warranted in the 26th chapter of St. Matthew, where it is said, that our Saviour and his disciples having sung a hymn, went forth to Mount Olivet. The three psalms in every hour are intended to honor the three persons of the adorable Trinity. The lessons and chapters are selected from the holy scriptures, and contain practical |